


Practical Applications to Invisible Problems

by FB Wickersham (perpetfic)



Series: The Blue Stones [10]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Female Protagonist, Gen, Magic, Supernatural - Freeform, blue stones, terrible puns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 11:23:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12556348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/perpetfic/pseuds/FB%20Wickersham
Summary: A brief glance at some hands-on work one does during Blue Stones training.





	Practical Applications to Invisible Problems

"This is the worst assignment." 

The complaint came from Mary Elizabeth, a girl in Hazel's year. She was halfway across the field they were searching in quadrants, so she had to yell for everyone to hear her. 

"No one cares," Teresa hollered over her shoulder. 

"I care!" Mary Elizabeth replied. She reached out with the long stick she was holding and gently poked the air. Nothing happened. "We've been out here for three hours! This is an unfair amount of homework! And I'm pretty sure it violates child labor laws."

"Is this homework?" Hazel asked as she poked her own long stick into thin air. "This feels more like safety work."

"I don't want to admit Mary Elizabeth has a point," Ming started and sighed deeply as if she were ashamed of herself, "but this is pretty much the worst." She looked at Hazel, to her left, then to Teresa, on her right. "It _has_ been three hours, and the only thing that's changed is that the smell has gotten worse."

"Does that mean there's more of them?" Hazel asked. "Or are they just sweaty, too?"

"Do bears sweat?" Teresa asked.

"Do _magical_ bears sweat?" Hazel added.

"I don't mind the trash talk about the assignment," Auntie Max said as they walked over to Ming, Teresa, and Hazel, "but I do mind you mis-identifying the animal."

"But they _are_ magical bears," Hazel said. She knew she wasn't going to win the argument, but she had to get her opinion in. "Why can't we just call them that?" 

"Or Magical Invisible Bears," Ming offered. "Mibs! It sounds cute."

"No renaming creatures," Auntie Max said. "You know the rules."

"The name is stupid," Teresa said. She poked her stick into the air and froze when it only moved a few inches. "And, I found one."

"Protocol," Auntie Max said and took a few steps back to observe.

Teresa gave Hazel and Ming a long-suffering look. "WHEREBEAR," she yelled at the top of her lungs. The other girls searching the field came rushing over. 

"Where?" Mary Elizabeth asked. She'd abandoned her stick and already had her wand out.

Teresa trailed her stick lightly up the side of the invisible bear until it felt like it was resting on the top. "There."

"Therebear," Hazel murmured and refused to look ashamed when Ming gave her a dirty look.

"Must you every time?" Ming asked.

"Form a circle," Auntie Max ordered before Hazel could reply. They walked around the circle, watching as the girls took each other by one hand and then crossed wands with the girl on the other side. "Excellent. Now, everyone take a deep breath. Teresa, since you found this one, you'll lead the chant."

Teresa nodded, closed her eyes for concentration, then slowly began the chant. When she reached the end of the first line, the girls on either side of her began it from the top. It went like that, turning the chant into a long round. When the round finished, there was a bear-shaped shimmer, a confused snort from the general area of the Wherebear's snout, and then it was gone. 

"Excellent!" Auntie Max said. "Great job building up the power. I'm very pleased. Now, you'll all be strong enough one day to fade out a Wherebear on your own, but never forget you can call in reinforcements if you're feeling power weak or just want the help."

"Can we go in now?" Mary Elizabeth asked, unaffected by the praise.

"Yes," Auntie Max said. "You're all dismissed."

"You know, it's not the worst thing to learn how to get rid of them," Teresa said to Mary Elizabeth. "I mean, they're invisible bears, M.E."

"They're boring," Mary Elizabeth replied. "They don't fly or breathe fire or do anything but lay down and sleep."

"I'm taking your Harry Potter books away," Ming said. "You always act like it's an affront that we're not constantly dying."

"Harry Potter lied to me," Mary Elizabeth said, conviction sharp in her tone. She sighed a moment later and laughed. "I just want a hippogriff, okay?"

"I think we all do," Hazel said. "But I'm pretty sure if we find one, it'll be made of rocks, not fly, and constantly bleed out its ass."

"Language," Ming said in a dead-on impression of Auntie Tessa. "Really, girls."

"Sorry, Auntie Tessa," the others monotoned. The whole group broke into laughter as they walked back into the House.

**Author's Note:**

> Before story notes, a couple of quick things: 
> 
> I've decided to use NaNo this year to draft the first novella set in this world. It will be called "The Craptacular Case of Confounding Chaos" and center around a more fleshed-out chaos demons plot. I'm excited and terrified, so I'm in a great NaNo headspace. I'll be on twitter [@effbeewick](https://twitter.com/effbeewick) if you want to keep up with me there. By the way, I still plan to continue the vignettes here for basically a good, long while. The novella isn't going to stop me from sharing stuff in the way I've been doing.
> 
> Now, onto notes!
> 
> 1\. Auntie Max teaches Magical Physical Education, which is not a PE class but a class where everyone goes out on the grounds and around the house and clears magical creatures. And, please, Mary Elizabeth, stop trying to convince people it's a violation of child labor laws. 
> 
> 2\. Mary Elizabeth isn't serious about the labor laws thing. She can just sometimes run a joke into the ground.
> 
> 3\. Mary Elizabeth, Hazel, Teresa, and Ming are all in the same year. If any previous bits of story make this sound untrue, that bit of story is lying (Or I need to clean it up at some point). 
> 
> 4\. Wherebears is the greatest pun I will ever write, and you are welcome.


End file.
